Amazon launched a new version of its warehouse robot that can understand and respond to everyday spoken language, part of a broader push to expand automated operations in Europe. The announcement was made at the company's Delivering the Future event in London on Thursday.
According to a report by CNBC, the next-generation Proteus is an autonomous mobile robot designed to take natural language commands from workers without requiring technical instructions or a programming interface. Workers can simply speak to the machine in plain terms and direct it to transport items throughout a warehouse.
The original Proteus was first deployed in Amazon fulfillment centers in 2022. That version was built to assist workers by transporting heavy carts weighing up to 400 kilograms and is currently in use at 25 fulfillment centers across the United States. The newer version is scheduled to begin rolling out in Europe in the first half of 2027.
Amazon also announced other robotics developments alongside the new Proteus. These include Vulcan, described as its first robot with a sense of touch, and a robotic tote handling system called STARK.
The robot launch comes as Amazon has been cutting large numbers of corporate employees. The company laid off 14,000 corporate workers in October, then announced an additional 16,000 layoffs in January to reduce what it described as layers and bureaucracy. CEO Andy Jassy addressed the long-term direction in a memo to employees.
"We will need fewer people doing some of the jobs that are being done today, and more people doing other types of jobs," Jassy wrote. "It's hard to know exactly where this nets out over time, but in the next few years, we expect that this will reduce our total corporate workforce."
Amazon is not alone in the broader trend. According to CNBC, several major tech companies including Microsoft, Salesforce, and IBM were behind thousands of AI-related layoffs in 2025, with more than 50,000 U.S. jobs cut during the year tied to the technology. More recently, Block, Oracle, and Meta have also carried out job reductions.
Amazon officials pushed back on the idea that robots eliminate jobs. Tye Brady, chief technologist at Amazon Robotics, told CNBC on Thursday that the company's investment in robotics has actually grown its workforce. "Since we've invested in robotics, we've created hundreds of thousands of jobs," Brady said.
John Boumphrey, Amazon's Vice President and Country Manager for the U.K. and Ireland, also said the company's robotics investment requires hiring more workers inside fulfillment centers, not fewer. He told CNBC the company has struggled to find people with the right skills. "I would place a large bet that we're going to need an awful lot of people in our warehouse in the future," he said, adding that the company employs more people in the same physical space as automation expands.
Amazon has committed to investing 10 billion euros, approximately $11.6 billion, to modernize fulfillment operations in Europe over the next several years. The Proteus rollout is part of that investment.
The bond market has also taken note of the broader AI-driven shifts in the economy. According to Bloomberg, KPMG Chief Economist Diane Swonk analyzed the current economic landscape this week, noting that improvements in the labor market and persistent service sector inflation are pushing Federal Reserve officials toward a more hawkish stance. Bond market pricing now reflects expectations of a 25 basis point rate hike in 2026, signaling a shift in monetary policy outlook.
The combination of advancing automation, continued layoffs at major tech firms, and shifting economic signals makes the Amazon announcement one data point in a much larger picture of how artificial intelligence is reshaping the American and global workforce.
